A DEVOTED mother, who suffered a psychotic illness after fleeing a violent marriage, killed her 22-month-old daughter by jumping with her from an upstairs window in a suicide bid, a court heard yesterday.

Gundeep Sanghera, 37, had become schizophrenic and suffered delusions, including that her daughter, Amrita Kaur, would be taken away and tortured, Bradford Crown Court was told.

The court heard the pair plummeted from the bathroom window of their home, in Delamere Street, Marshfields, Bradford, on February 18 last year. Amrita was killed by the fall and her mother was seriously injured.

She appeared in court in a wheelchair yesterday and wept throughout the proceedings.

Sanghera denied murdering her daughter, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She was made subject of a secure hospital order with an indefinite restriction on her release.

Prosecutor Sophie Drake said Sanghera killed her daughter either by pushing her out of the first floor bathroom window and leaping after her, or by jumping with the child in her arms.

Miss Drake said Sanghera had moved to Bradford in 2012 after the breakdown of her marriage and was fleeing domestic violence.

The court heard Sanghera had drunk bleach before the incident.

She told psychiatrists she thought people were entering her house when she was not there. She said she had received a letter saying her daughter would be taken and tortured. She thought someone had put a camera in her house and she believed that satellites were monitoring her, which she attributed to Islamic terrorists.

Two eminent psychiatrists who assessed her concluded at the time of the incident she was suffering from a serious psychotic mental illness which was some form of schizophrenia. They recommended the defendant remained subject of a secure hospital order under the Mental Health Act with a restriction under Section 41 of the Act.

Dr John Kent told the judge there was a potential risk of serious harm to the public in the future.

Sanghera's barrister, Michelle Colborne QC, said she was of impeccable character. She had come to the UK with a first class degree and was in a decent middle-class marriage, but was the victim of domestic violence.

She had come to Bradford and until two weeks before the tragedy her care of Amrita was described as exemplary. "She nurtured and was devoted to her child."

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said it was a tragic case. He said: "You have pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of another person. That person was your 22-month-old daughter Amrita, who you loved dearly, and you will never recover from this. The death was caused by a real and genuine suicide attempt. You didn't die, your daughter did."

He said she had been desperately affected by the violence inflicted upon her, and those who had supported her confirmed what a good mother she was. "Whereas you were neglectful of yourself, that was not the case for Amrita."

Judge Durham Hall said he was satisfied her mental state was substantially impaired at the time and provided an explanation for her actions.

He added: "It is necessary for the protection of the public from serious harm to impose a restriction on your release."